Lost In Death Valley
by Monika11
Summary: On their way home from Las Vegas Starsky and Hutch decide to drive through Death Valley...


**Lost In Death Valley**

The case was solved, they'd gambled away some money  
and made a new friend. Starsky, in particular, had  
paid attention to the young dancer Vicky. When the  
detectives found out that she had a disabled daughter  
who badly needed surgery, they decided to help her  
with the money they had won.

* * *

"Come on, pal, I'm ready to leave," and Starsky took  
his bag, looked around the luxurious hotel room for a  
last time, sighed and let his partner go through the  
door first. In contrast to their arrival, they didn't  
need to pretend to be somebody else and so they were  
wearing casual clothing.

It had been an exciting week in Las Vegas. Finally  
they had found the strangler who had murdered young  
women. One of the suspects had been Jack Mitchell, an  
old friend of Hutch's, and though Hutch couldn't  
believe that he was the murderer, they had to chase  
him because he was arousing suspicion. He had died  
during the fight and when they found out that he had a  
tumor in his head and that he had nothing to do with  
the murder, Hutch felt guilty.

Now they needed some distraction.

Driving through the streets of Las Vegas in daylight  
was a little different than at night, when all the  
glimmering lights suggested that life was always  
beautiful.

"Look over there," and Hutch pointed to a bus station  
where a young girl was sitting, seemingly waiting for  
nothing. She was drinking from a bottle hidden in a  
brown paperbag. "A lost life," Hutch mumbled and  
Starsky couldn't say anything.

"Hey, have you got the map, so that we can find where  
Vicky lives?" Starsky was looking forward to visiting  
the gorgeous woman and he noticed Hutch  
fumbling in the glove compartment for the map. Hutch delved and soon  
found out where the little place was and how they  
would get there.

"We can turn right here, though it is faster through  
Death Valley," Hutch mumbled.

"What - did you say Death Valley?" Starsky was all  
excited. "Then let's drive through it! I've always  
wanted to see it!"

"It's very hot there," Hutch tried to dampen Starsky's  
joy, but there was nothing to keep Starsky from going  
there.

"Look, we've got enough time and we need a little  
sightseeing. Show me the way, oh you all-knowing  
partner of mine," Starsky joked and Hutch gave in.

Soon they had left the road and noticed with  
astonishment the changing of the countryside. No  
plants and trees but hard sun-dried ground. Hutch  
pulled down one window and blistering heat entered the  
car.

"Wow, that's what I call heat!" Starsky was impressed.

Hutch, who was studying the map again, was suddenly  
pushed against Starsky when the car abruptly turned  
right.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hutch tried to remove  
the map from Starsky's face and saw the mischievous  
smile there.

"You won't believe it, but I just saw a sign, "Old  
copper mine". Let's have a look. When I was a child ,  
me and my friends in New york were always dreaming of  
exploring an old mine, so now we gotta chance to see  
one."

Hutch remained speechless . They followed the path  
narrowed by rocks on both sides. In front of them they  
saw bigger rocks and there was a sign with further  
information. They got out of their car.

The heat was incredible. Soon both men were sweating  
profusely.

"Let's go into the shade over there," Starsky proposed  
and was already walking to the little cave, while  
Hutch paid attention to the sign.

"This is the entrance to the mine!" Starsky shouted  
and disappeared into the cave.

"Wait!" Hutch shouted and hurried over to the spot  
where his friend had just been. It was very dark in  
the cave and somewhere on the left there should be a  
small path. Hutch had to adjust his eyes to the  
darkness.

"Starsk, where are you?" Hutch's voice sounded hollow,  
he wondered where his friend had disappeared to.

"I'm here, it's wonderful, the walls are sparkling , I  
can't describe it, you must see it!" Starsky's voice  
reached him from inside the mine.

"Don't go further. It's dangerous to enter the mine.  
Rocks can fall down, or you can get lost."

Hutch's concern grew when he didn't hear Starsky  
answer. He called several times for his friend, but it  
was in vain. What should he do?

He felt his way around the next corner, walked  
straight on till he came to a parting of the ways.  
Where to go? He called Starsky's name again – nothing.  
He had to find his friend. Was there a little more  
light to the left? Hutch turned in that direction,  
stopped for a moment.

"Starsk, are you there? Give me a sign, say something,  
what's happening? " Hutch couldn't hide his fear any  
longer. He followed the path when his feet suddenly  
lost ground and he fell. He gave a short yelp – and  
landed on something soft. Stunned he felt around and  
could sense the material of jeans. "Buddy, is it you?"  
he whispered , moved to the side and reached further  
till his hand touched curls. Starsky!

"Fancy meeting you here," Hutch muttered. Starsky  
appeared to be unconscious. Hutch pulled his partner  
onto his lap and checked for any head injuries. He  
felt the lump on Starsky's forehead at the same time  
Starsky stirred and moaned.

"Feeling pain, buddy? Then you're still alive," Hutch  
said encouragingly, scanning the surroundings. The  
ground of the path had subsided but it shouldn't be  
too difficult to climb back where they had come from.

What to do with Starsky? He had to wake him, by hook  
or by crook.

"Wake up, schweetheart." Hutch imitated Starsy's  
voice, " help me, Something's scaring me.." The trick  
worked. Indeed, Starsky opened his eyes half way and  
asked: "Whassa matter?"

"I heard some strange noises inside the mine and I  
want you to help me find out what's wrong there. "  
Starsky's consciousness came back and cop mode set in.

"I'll help you, don't worry. Let's go look for it,"  
Starsky said and tried to sit up.

Hutch had to chuckle. His friend never thought of  
himself , always cared for his partner…

"Take it easy. First we have to climb out of this ,"  
Hutch pointed to the path above them.

"Be careful. Before I fell I was hit very hard ," and  
Starsky put his hand to his head. Hutch nodded. "I  
know. Stay here. I'll climb out and help you then.  
Okay?"

Hutch steadied his partner putting his arms around  
him. Then they got up very slowly. Hutch's realized  
that his right foot was aching but he had other  
problems to solve now.

Starsky was swaying lightly , so Hutch leant Starsky  
against a wall. Both men took a breath, then Hutch  
loosened his grip.

"Just a moment, then I'll help you out," Hutch  
reassured his friend and with a pat on his stomach he  
started to climb the wall.

With some effort he reached the old path, looked down  
and said:" Come here, give me your hands. I'll pull  
you up. I can see now what hurt you. There's an iron  
rod coming out of the wall. Maybe an old cross beam…"

Starsky was moving toward the wall . Fortunately it  
wasn't too steep, so he could climb out of the cavity  
with Hutch's help.

"Boy, am I glad to be with you again," Starsky mumbled  
and leaned into Hutch. But suddenly he stiffened.  
"Which is the right way out?" He looked around, his  
gaze full of fear. He could see several paths leading  
in different directions. "Where to go?"

Hutch tried to remember very hard where he had come  
from while searching for his friend. Somewhere he had  
turned left, but where was the corner he remembered?

Now it all looked very strange, he could have come  
from the right side, too…

"We're lost, right?" Starsky's voice sounded a little  
strained. In the darkness it was difficult to see  
Hutch's face. Starsky only felt Hutch's calming  
squeeze on his shirt. Starsky knew that he had to be  
strong for his partner who had been looking for him  
and had saved him. He had been such an idiot to go  
into the mine. He had brought them both into trouble.  
Shit! And hadn't Hutch mentioned strange noises in the  
mine? He had to help his partner, no question.

"We have to find out about the noise you heard,"  
Starsky said with determination. "Where did you hear  
it?"

"Wha…?" Hutch was preoccupied. Noises? Oh my god, what  
should he say? Maybe the truth, that he had come up  
with it to wake Starsky up?

"Buddy…," he started when Starsky interrupted him.  
"Shhhhh, there it was again. Now I can hear it, too."  
Both were listening now.

Far in the distance there were sounds, Hutch couldn't  
believe it. Automatically they turned in that  
direction. It was still very dark, and Starsky held on  
to Hutch's belt. They were lost but they were  
together. Together they had managed a lot in their  
lives. The hard times when Hutch was left by Vanessa,  
his ex wife. When Terry had died and he was about to  
give up. Who had pulled him back to real life? Hu..

"Oops!" Starsky bumped into Hutch who had stopped  
suddenly.

"Now I can hear it. Those are voices, " Hutch listened  
very intensly. "Sounds like a group of kids."

" Do you think that's the exit ?" Starsky asked  
hopefully. He had totally forgotten his aching head.  
He only wanted to leave this unpleasant place. They  
moved further and when they came to the next fork they  
knew which way to use. It was getting brighter.

Soon they could differentiate the voices. There was a  
teacher with kids who were answering questions.

"I told you already, there aren't any ghosts in this  
old mine, you needn't worry…"

At that moment Starsky and Hutch tottered round the  
corner, both covered with dust and the blood from  
Starsky's forehead.

"Ewwwwwww!" Twenty small children screamed and ran,  
leaving their stunned teacher behind.

"And I always thought kids had a soft spot for you,"  
Starsky grinned and Hutch answered:" The same to you."

Looking at each other they had to admit that their  
appearance was not trust-inspiring.

"May I help you, gentlemen?" the teacher offered.  
"No thanks, you should try and capture your kids  
again," Hutch smiled. He put his arm round Starsky's  
waist and both men hobbled to their car.

Two hours later two exhausted detectives arrived at  
Vicky's home. It was dark already and when she opened  
the door she was frightened – before she recognized  
her friends from Las Vegas.

"Come in, you two, how was the trip? Wait – what's  
wrong with you?" She pampered Starsky, cleaned the  
wound , gave them both something to drink and step by  
step, Starsky felt better.

"Vicky, you won't believe it! We drove through Death  
Valley and explored an old copper mine. It was  
wonderful! The walls were sparkly and there were so  
many paths…"

"And then, buddy?" Hutch dared to ask.

"What do you mean, Hutch? As I said, it was wonderful.  
And then there were little kids with their teacher and  
they were so impressed when they saw us. You know, not  
everybody would be so brave as to…"

Hutch got up , rummaged in his bag and handed Starsky  
a big envelope. "You should come to the big point,  
pal." Starsky looked at his partner , became serious  
and held out the envelope to Vicky who at first didn't  
understand. When she opened it, saw the money and  
looked into two pairs of blue eyes, she knew all of a  
sudden what a special gift the detectives had given  
her.

Starsky, who couldn't bear any soapy scenes,  
disappeared to check on his car. Hutch explained to  
Vicky what had happened in Death Valley that  
afternoon.

"Well," he finished. It's right, we got lost – almost.  
But we found you and it's a great pleasure to help  
your kid. By the way, where is she? You must know,  
children have a soft spot for us…normally!" And they  
both laughed, till Starsky came into the room and  
shared the laughter with them.

THE END

7


End file.
